SAFA | Football Is Coming Home

Wanted: a Moses for Bafana Bafana

By Peter Alegi | October 20th, 2009 | 1 Comment

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Bafana’s Brazilian coach, Joel Santana, is out of a job. Pallid performances and pitiful results sunk the former Flamengo coach. “In the bigger picture and the interest of the country,” said Mandla Mazibuko, SAFA vice-president, “he [Santana] realized while he was doing his best, his best was not good enough.”

Hand-picked by Bafana’s previous coach and fellow brasileiro Carlos Alberto Parreira, Santana lasted 18 months at the helm of the national side of the 2010 World Cup host country. His most notable achievement was a 4th-place finish in the 2009 Confederations Cup, which some critics opined was assisted by a lucky draw that placed South Africa in a group with minnows New Zealand and Iraq.

Football-mad South Africans have every reason to be worried. A few months before the World Cup and Bafana are rudderless and adrift. SAFA’s decision about Santana’s successor may be announced on Friday. Parreira is lurking in the shadows.

Update (10/24/09): Back to the Future : Parreira’s officially back.

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Tags: Joel Santana, SAFA, South Africa

Filed under: The Hosts

Football Elections in SA: We have a winner!?

By Peter Alegi | September 28th, 2009 | No Comments

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Kick Off magazine reports that Kirsten Nematandani emerged victorious in the contentious SAFA presidential race during a marathon annual general meeting in Joburg. Nematandani was elected unopposed after 2010 LOC Chief Executive Officer Danny Jordaan and Chairman Irvin Khoza withdrew from the race.

In South African football circles, the outcome of this hotly contested election (more than 100 police officers searched delegates at the Southern Sun hotel for weapons), was widely seen as a victory for Danny Jordaan’s Football Transformation Forum at the expense of PSL boss Irvin Khoza. According to the Mail and Guardian, the new SAFA chief may face a legal challenge, but aims to go ahead and meet soon with SA president Jacob Zuma, Minister of Sport Makhenkesi Stofile and FIFA president Sepp Blatter to outline the way forward for South African football.

Sept. 29 update: press conference erupts in chaos as PSL issues statement declaring Safa’s presidential election to be unconstitutional and illegitimate. No comment from FIFA.